Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred Heet Manish Bapna alias Heet Manish Bafna (noticee), proprietor of Standard Chartists, for three years for providing unregistered investment advisory services. While imposing a fine of Rs5 lakh, SEBI also asked Mr Bapna to refund Rs1.94 crore collected as fees from clients, investors, or complainants as fees or consideration or in any other form, in respect to the unregistered investment advisory activities.
In
an order, Dr Anitha Anoop, chief general manager (CGM) of SEBI, says, "It is noteworthy that in addition to acting as an unregistered investment advisor, the noticee, by disseminating that 'Standard Chartists' is a SEBI registered investment advisory firm, through his WhatsApp group, has knowingly published false and misleading information through social media and has knowingly made a misleading statement, thereby, defrauding the investors at large by inducing them to execute trades in the market based on the advice provided."
The market regulator received a complaint against Mr Bapna, who has been posing as a SEBI registered advisor and charging people money to manage their portfolios. The complainant was one of the victims of the noticee and had suffered a loss of Rs33,000. The complainant was further charged Rs10,200 as a service charge on 1 October 2021 by Mr Bapna, who took her account details for managing her portfolio.
Further investigation revealed that Mr Bapna was running a WhatsApp group called 'power of markets', where he was marketing his premium membership packages and duping people of their hard-earned income. He was using mobile no. xxxxxx7808 for communicating with the investors. This mobile number also happens to be the group administrator of the WhatsApp group.
SEBI observed that Mr Bapna received Rs89.38 lakh in the bank account and through his Paytm account for the investment advisory services provided by him through his proprietorship concern 'Standard Chartists' from 10 December 2019 till March 2022. "Thus, in the light of the findings in the preceding paragraphs, I am of the considered view that Mr Bapna, through his proprietorship concern Standard Chartists, is liable for refund Rs89.38 lakh collected by him as an unregistered investment adviser in addition to monetary penalty which is attracted for the said violation under Section 15EB of the SEBI Act, 1992."
"Further, upon analysing the bank account statements provided by Mr Bapna for the period from 1 April 2022 till 24 February 2024, I note that he has additionally received credits of Rs1.05 crore during the said period, which clearly shows that he has continued to act as an unregistered investment adviser without obtaining a certificate of registration from SEBI in lines with the provisions of the IA Regulations, 2013 despite initiation of examination into his activities and issuance of a SCN to that effect," the SEBI CGM says.
Dr Anoop says,"Despite Mr Bapna's denial of running the advisory and his claim that the bank account only held proceeds from his father's textile business, the lack of documentary evidence to support his assertion, such as screenshots of payments made by purchasers towards sarees or bank entries indicating sales and tax payments, raised doubts. Instead of substantial proof, the noticee only provided a roughly prepared profit and loss statement, accompanied by a note acknowledging potential accounting errors due to his discomfort with accounting."
"Mr Bapna shall not undertake, either during or after the expiry of the period of restraint and prohibition, either directly or indirectly, investment advisory services or any activity in the securities market without obtaining a certificate of registration from SEBI as required under the securities laws," the market regulator says.
I have lost 32 lakhs Rs in Tading under prof.Jonathan simon and One assistant named Marlina.
The name of the group is JONATHAN SIMON STRATEGIST CENTER.
More than 100 members in the group.
Involved in uc stocks Ipo and blocl trade.
All the recomended stocks came from BlackRock business school..
The recimded stocks always showed profit.
The price of the stock always matched with other trading apps.
TVS supply chain solution IPO was listed on feb 2nd 2024.
The name if the group
The trading app name is Alpaxis pro.
I traded between jan 8th and Feb 7th 2024.
While withdrawing money the account manager asked to pay 20% commission and 20% tax.
There are in all 25 +such victims who have lost money above Rs.20 lakhs.